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Sentimental and emotionally charged, this intense drama centres around Bharat, the eldest son of a Delhi-based family, upon whom the onus of looking after the family's welfare falls, after his father's retirement.
He has two younger college-going brothers, Deepak and Vijay, and a sister of marriage age, Radha. Bharat is a graduate, but is unable to secure any employment, much to the frustration of his girlfriend, Sheetal. Vijay takes step to secure his own future, by turning to crime, which is strongly opposed by Bharat, and as a result Vijay leaves the house.
Mohan is Sheetal's boss, and finds her very attractive. When he proposes marriage, she accepts, and soon both are engaged. This leaves Bharat devastated, unable to deal with life, and unable to afford the basic needs of Roti (food), Kapada (Clothing), and Makaan (Shelter), he must now decide to carry on honestly, or otherwise. Can Bharat find an honest way to fulfil his and his family's basic needs? Or will he be forced to sacrifice his principles for the sake of his family's welfare?

Storyline

After the retirement of his dad (Krishan Dhawan), the responsibility is on Bharat (Manoj Kumar) to look after his Delhi-based family. He has two younger college-going brothers, Vijay (Amitabh Bachchan) and Deepak (Dheeraj Kumar) and a sister of marriageable age, Champa (Meena T.).

Although Bharat himself is a college graduate, the only work he can find is as a low-paid singer, much to the frustration of his girlfriend, Sheetal (Zeenat Aman). Meanwhile, Vijay has turned to crime as a last resort to provide for the family, but after an argument with Bharat, he leaves home to join the army.

Sheetal starts working as a secretary for rich businessman Mohan Babu (Shashi Kapoor) and Mohan becomes attracted to her. She too becomes attracted to Mohan but is more interested in his wealth and luxury. She loves Bharat but cannot contemplate a life in poverty.

Bharat finally finds a job as a builder but starts to realise that Sheetal is slowly drifting away from him. Soon he loses his job after the government takes over the building site and his financial problems increase further. When Mohan proposes marriage to Sheetal, she accepts and soon both are engaged, leaving Bharat heartbroken. After losing his love, Bharat also loses his father, which devastates him. Frustrated, Bharat burns his diploma on his father's funeral pyre.

Meanwhile, Champa has found a suitor, but Bharat has no money to pay for the wedding and it cannot go ahead. Still depressed at the state of his life, Bharat soon finds salvation by helping a poor girl, Tulsi (Moushumi Chatterjee), who also lives in poverty but gets by. He also makes friends with Sardar Harnam Singh (Prem Nath) who comes to his rescue when he attempts to save Tulsi from a gang of hoodlums.

He then receives an offer from a corrupt businessman named Nekiram (Madan Puri), who persuades Bharat to do his illegal activities so he and his family will finally come out of poverty and be wealthy. The plot centers on whether Bharat agree to this, or whether his moral nature stops him from turning to crime to provide for his family.

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Did you know? This movie turned out to be a career-defining movie for its cast and crew. It was the highest grossing Indian film of 1974 and one of the biggest blockbusters in veteran filmmaker, Manoj Kumar's career. It also boosted Amitabh Bachchan's career, as he was then strengthening his position in the film industry. Read More

Revealing Mistakes Towards the end of the movie when Vijay and Deepak are fighting while Bharat is trying to escape on Deepak's motorcycle, Vijay's "amputated" right arm can clearly be seen hidden behind his back, under his shirt.

Revealing Mistakes Vijay is one-handed but has both hands on the motorbike handles twice during the fighting scene in the end.

Trivia:

The title of this movie is based on the Urdu phrase referring to the bare necessities of life (food, clothing and shelter), which was popularized in the late 1960s by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto ahead of the Pakistani general election, 1970.

This movie turned out to be a career-defining movie for its cast and crew. It was the highest grossing Indian film of 1974 and one of the biggest blockbusters in veteran filmmaker, Manoj Kumar's career. It also boosted Amitabh Bachchan's career, as he was then strengthening his position in the film industry.

The Telugu movie 'Jeevana Poratam', starring Vijayashanthi, is a remake of this movie.

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